Today’s Yahrtzeits and History – 25-26 Nissan

Rav Chaim Halberstam of Sanz, author of Divrei Chaim (1793-1876), founder of the Sanzer Chasidus. Born in Tarnograd, Poland. At the age of 18, he was appointed Rav of the small town of Rudnick, where he became a close talmid of Rav Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz. In 1830, he became Rav of Sanz (Tzanz), where he stayed for 46 years. He had 15 children, including Rav Yechezkel of Shinov. His third son, Rav Meir Nosson, died of an epidemic at an early age; his only son was Rav Shloime, who would become the first Bobover Rebbe. Another scion of Sanz, Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam, the Klausenburger Rav, has erected several towns, yeshivos, and a modern medical center in Israel, as well as yeshivos in New Jersey and New York. The Sanz Chassidimhave a yicchus document showing how they are descended via the Maharal of Prague from Rav Yosef I of Rome and back to King Dovid.

Rav Moshe Ulman (1899), author of ShU”T Yerios Shlomo.

Rav Nachum Tzvi (ben Kalman Avraham) Goldberg (1922-2006). Born to the Rav of Vasilkov, he moved with the family to America in 1926. As a bachur, he learned with Rav Shlomo Heiman for 5 years, then moved to Lakewood to learn with Rav Aharon Kotler for 9 years (1943-1952). As a married man, he moved back to the East Side and taught at Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yaakov Yosef (RJJ) for over 20 years. After his father was nifter in 1968, he replaced him as Rav of Adas Yisrael. In 1973, he also became administrator of Ezras Torah and made out the checks for all the yungeleit.

Rav Ephraim (ben Aharon) Navon, the Machaneh Ephraim (1677-1735). Born in Andrinople, he married the daughter of Rav Yehuda Ergaz. He served as Chief Rabbi of Constantinople.

Rav Moshe (ben Yaakov) Halberstam (1932-2006). Born in the town of Tshakawe, Galicia, he was a great-great-great grandson of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz. As a youth, he studied at Yeshivas Beis Avraham Slonim under the Nesivos Shalom of Slonim. His rebbi muvhak was Rav Shmuel Wosner. He delivered shiurim for decades in a kollel for halacha that he headed. He was a member of the Eida Chareidis Beis Din and rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Tshakawe. In 1997, he was appointed a member of Badatz. He published a collection of responsa called Divrei Moshe. He founded the Vaad HaRabbonim LeInyonei Tzedaka, and was the head of the charity Chibas Yerushalayim Kupas Rebbe eir Baal Hannes. His son-in-law Rav Mattisyahu Deitch founded the Yad Ramah Institute under the guidance of the greatest halachic authorities of today, and it deals with solutions for problems in halacha and medicine.

Rav Moshe (ben Chaim Tzvi) Teitelbaum, Satmar Rebbe (1914-2006). Born the second son of the Atzei Chaim, in Ratzfert, Hungary, he was orphaned at the age of 11 and raised by various relatives. Following his marriage in 1936, he served as Rosh Yeshiva at Karecska. In 1939, he became the rabbi of Zenta, Yugoslavia (now Serbia).In 1944, Rav Moshe and his wife were sent to Auschwitz; his wife and their three children died. Moshe was then transferred to Theresienstadt, from where he was liberated in 1945.Following the War, he remarried and moved to New York, first settling in Williamsburg, then in 1966 in Boro Park. He succeeded his uncle Rav Yoel Teitelbaum, as Satmar Rebbe in 1979. He is the author of Beirach Moshe, a 5-volume Chassidic commentary on Chumash.

Today in History – 25 Nissan

· 30 Jews killed in riots in Cracow, 1464.
· The Chumash with Yiddish translation was published in Cremona, Italy, 1570.
· Soldiers, incited by ritual charges, riot and kill 128 Jews in Bucharest, 1801.
· All civic limitations imposed on Jews of the German Empire were lifted, 1871. This brought medieval anti-Semitism to a conclusion but ten years later, almost to the day, Germany opened a new epoch of modern anti-Semitism. (See 26 Nissan 1881)
· Shechita is banned in Germany, 1933
· Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Eretz Yisrael, 1936.
· An embargo went into effect on the property of Austrian Jews, 1938.
· The trial of Adolph Eichmann on charges of genocide opened in Yerushalayim, 1961.

Today in History – 26 Nissan

· A petition signed by 250,000 Germans, 1881, was presented to the government requesting the barring of foreign Jews from admission into Germany. This petition marked the opening of modern German anti-Semitism.
· Daeth of Albert Einstein, Princeton, NJ, 1955
· Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the Earth once before making a safe landing, 1961.